Tiberias

Am lying down in Room 1 of a wonderful little place called the Aliyah Return Center. It's on Yohanan ben Zakai 1, Tiberias, Israel, within a 3 minute walk down to the Sea of Galilee. They are a Christian organization existing to help Jews return to Israel--read 'Zionist Dispensationalists.' I LOVE them!!

We had a great last dig yesterday; Dave and I got to do water sieving, washing pottery, and working in our own fine grids. I finally found my own wine jug and named it "JARoboam I," and Dave found a wine jug too: "JAR-fleet Academy." We collapsed happily in our beds.

After breakfast this morning, and warm goodbyes to the Tel Kabri crew, we headed over to the 'Jesus Boat.' Utterly fascinating!

Next was the Golan Heights and the third largest winery in Israel. It is truly lovely country up there; we could clearly see Israel is never going to hand this beautiful land back to Syria. (And they shouldn't. The Golan Heights are well within the boundaries of the Promised Land.)

We had already decided to eat or dinner at an award-winning restaurant (named Auberge Shulamit) tucked away in the Rosh Pina mountain range. On our way we saw a turn-off for Bethsaida. We were amazed at how beautifully the site has been restored.  It is still an active archeological excavation, but now we could recognize the equipment and some of their methods.

I already miss Tel Kabri! They're going to start removing the pots on Monday or Tuesday, and we're going to miss it. On the other hand, Dr. Eric Cline will keep it well recorded on the Tel Kabri Excavations 2015 Facebook page.